bio

Imagine your livelihood, gone. Imagine the activities that have come to define your life, gone. Imagine no longer being able to drive, travel alone, “run” errands, or even write your name. There is no need for Brian Bourgault, the Denver based singer-songwriter-producer, who releases music under the name Borgo, to imagine this, it is his reality. Brian suffers from a mostly unheard of neuromuscular disease, Charcot Marie Tooth Disease, a progressive, inherited, peripheral neuropathy. Over the course of his lifetime, Brian’s nerves have been demyelinating and the muscles that those nerves trigger have been wasting away. A guitar player from age 13, Brian found himself unable to play his instrument by age 33, his hands no longer strong enough to fret the notes. And when the musical instrument store that Brian owned and operated became too much for a man with failing health, overwhelmed with thoughts of future despair, Brian closed shop and walked away from music for a decade. That was 2005.

By 2016, unable to work any of the jobs that he had always assumed would be there for him to fall back on, Brian went on disability and began the process of re-defining his life inside the limitations of his disability. What remained from his previous life was the passion and drive to create music. Brian needed to find a way to do this without being able to play any instruments. He bought a Mac, logic Pro X, and a microphone and began working on the songs that would become Be Kind, A soulful, bluesy LP recorded with a band of talented friends, and released independently in April, 2018.

Following the release of Be Kind, Brian found himself troubled By the prospect of putting together a band for live performances, scheduling rehearsals and booking gigs around the availability of busy musicians. All of this, in addition to the continued decline of his physical ability, forced Borgo to again re-create himself as an artist. He began composing and producing “inside the box”, creating tracks with samples and midi-to-synth, removing the cost of hired musicians and studio time for recording, and nixing the stress of holding a band together.

A 4 song EP, demolition!, was released in September, 2018, marking a change in direction for Borgo. This was followed quickly by a release in October, a groovy future-soul single, Sequence, featuring vocals by Kim Dawson (Pimps of Joytime, New Mastersounds).

Staying true to his soulful roots, Borgo is producing funky tunes with a driving beat while exploring fresh sounds! And, he is back on the mic for a collection of songs now in progress. “I work on music all day, every day… It is really all that I have left”, he says. Borgo is hoping to find a label to help release the next EP early in 2019. “ I want to focus on writing and producing. I need help with packaging it and getting it out there.”